In response to the challenges of an aging population and growing social isolation among older adults, this research investigates how shared living concepts and the built environment can foster social cohesion and mobility for elderly residents. Through a combination of literature review and spatial analysis, the study examines how architectural and urban strategies can support more inclusive, accessible neighborhoods.
Tarwewijk, a socioeconomically diverse neighborhood in Rotterdam, serves as a case study to explore how spatial conditions, such as housing typologies, public space, and walkability, affect social interaction and independence among elderly people. The research identifies key principles from cohousing models and inclusive design that promote everyday encounters and community engagement. The inquiry is further informed by firsthand experience working in elderly care settings, offering practical insight into the social and spatial needs for older adults. These insights form the foundation for a subsequent architectural de sign project, developed separately, that seeks to apply the research findings in practice. The study concludes that an integrated approach-bridging social, architectural, and urban dimensions, is essential to enable older adults to age in place while remaining active and connected.

The aging population in the Netherlands is growing rapidly, with the number of people aged 80 and above expected to double from 800.000 in 2020 to 1.5 million by 2050. This development, known as ‘’double aging’’, will significantly increase the number of people living with dementia, rising from 300.000 in 2020 to 620.000 by 2050. This demographic shift poses significant challenges for care and housing.

This research aims to explore how to design a care facility for people with dementia that enhances quality of life and autonomy. Additionally, the facility should align with the multicultural context of Tarwewijk. The main research question is:

‘’How can a care facility for people with dementia be designed to foster a humane and inclusive environment, with a focus on promoting autonomy and quality of life, for example in a neighborhood like Tarwewijk?’’.

The findings of this research show the importance of addressing three scales in the design: the environment, the building and the personal room.

At the environmental scale, the facility should integrate with the neighborhood to avoid isolating residents and encourage social interaction, enhancing their sense of autonomy. At the building scale, clear and simple layouts with recognizable landmarks help residents navigate independently. Small scale care settings, accommodating groups of 8 – 10 residents, provide a higher quality of life compared to larger groups. On the room scale, personalization and familiarity through personal items are crucial for creating a sense of comfort and belonging.

Given the multicultural context of Tarwewijk, the design must consider cultural preferences. Some cultures, such as Turkish and Moroccan, often prefer not to place their parents in care facilities, believing this reduces their quality of life. To address this, the design should include intergenerational homes alongside small-scale scale care facilities. In these homes, older adults can live with their children in one house, with separate entrances for privacy. This arrangement allows children to care for their parents while maintaining their own independence, this enhances the quality of life and autonomy of the older adults who can still live partially independently.

This research provides valuable insights into designing care facilities that promote autonomy and quality of life for individuals with dementia. It highlights the challenge of balancing safety, autonomy, and quality of life. It is important to note that this study focuses on general strategies to improves these challenges, individual needs and preferences can vary significantly. A set of design guidelines has been developed from this research, which will assist with the further design of care facilities in Tarwewijk for elderly people with dementia.

Active Ageing in Tarwewijk, developed within the design studio Designing for Inclusive Care, explores how architectural interventions can enable older adults to live independently, safely, and with dignity within existing housing stock. Set in Rotterdam’s Tarwewijk neighborhood, the project reimagines the outdated yet structurally sound Haagse portiekflats through minimal but strategic design modifications—such as step-free access, new lift cores, adaptable and culturally responsive interiors, and communal spaces that encourage daily interaction. Challenging conventional models of institutional care, the proposal envisions a community-based support network that embeds care within the neighborhood fabric, addressing growing demand amidst a shrinking professional care workforce. More than a technical retrofit, the project is a broader inquiry into what it means to age with autonomy and how thoughtful design can cultivate resilience, connection, and a sense of belonging for older adults.

Loneliness is an increasing concern in Dutch society, with 11% of the Dutch population experiencing strong feelings of loneliness, a number that is expected to grow as cities become more densely populated. This research explores the role of architectural design in fostering social encounters at multiple spatial scales—neighbourhood, transition zone, and interior—focusing on Tarwewijk, Rotterdam. The study examines the physical and programmatic qualities needed in architectural and urban design to contribute to social interaction and, consequently, reduce social isolation.
Using a combination of insights from architectural and sociological thinkers such as Richard Sennett, Eric Klinenberg, and Herman Hertzberger guide the exploration of social infrastructure, public familiarity, and spatial organization. The findings suggest that design interventions—such as enhancing transition zones, promoting identity and accessibility, designing social spaces that accommodate to a diversity of different groups—can strengthen social networks of people.
Ultimately, the study argues that while ar chitectural design alone cannot solve the issue of loneliness, it plays a crucial role in shaping environments that encourage social interaction and a sense of belonging, contributing to the broader effort of loneliness prevention in inner-city neighbourhoods.

As urban individualism intensifies, communities face increasing levels of social fragmentation and isolation, especially in cities like Rotterdam, where nearly half of all households are single-person households. In Tarwewijk, a diverse and often vulnerable neighborhood, these challenges are deeply felt. This research explores how multigenerational housing communities, through architectural and spatial design, can actively promote social cohesion, mutual support, and ecological sustainability.

The central question guiding this study is: Can a multigenerational housing community concept promote social cohesion, in for example the Tarwewijk? Through a multidisciplinary methodology, including literature review, fieldwork, site analysis, mapping, data collection, and case studies, the research identifies spatial strategies that foster meaningful intergenerational interaction while supporting broader ecosystem goals.

Findings highlight the importance of shared, inclusive spaces such as communal gardens, flexible indoor areas, and layered access systems that encourage both planned and spontaneous social encounters. Another core aspect of the design approach is the integration of sustainable building materials, such as recycled concrete and rammed earth, and circular construction strategies that reduce environmental impact. The greenery structure is used not only for climate adaptation but also as a social connector, providing biodiverse, multifunctional outdoor spaces that invite community building.

This project proposes a living environment where sustainability, community, and mutual support are interwoven, balancing privacy with shared responsibility, and ecological health with human well-being. By leveraging Tarwewijk’s demographic diversity and aligning architectural solutions with ecological systems, multigenerational housing can create resilient, socially rich neighborhoods.

In the Netherlands, population aging and double aging are leading to a significant increase in the number of people with dementia. At the same time, the healthcare sector is facing severe staff shortages, and current living conditions are often not aligned with the needs of this target group. This societal challenge forms the basis for the central research question: “How can insights from the Hogeweyk Care Concept and dementia-friendly architecture be used to develop a care and living environment for people with dementia in the Tarwewijk?”

This research has resulted in the development of design guidelines from three perspectives: architectural, care-related, and location-specific. These guidelines contribute to a holistic design that, on the one hand, improves the quality of life for people with dementia, and on the other hand, addresses the pressure on the healthcare sector. The design principles can be applied at various scales: from a dementia-friendly neighborhood that emphasizes social cohesion, to the room level, where a homely and recognizable environment is provided.

In addition to improving the formal care structure, the research also focuses on strengthening informal care. By designing with the aim of creating communities at the neighborhood and district level, mutual involvement is stimulated.

This study focuses on the challenges and opportunities in developing
age-friendly living environments in Tarwewijk, Rotterdam. The research highlights the importance of supporting elderly to live independently within their community by addressing deficiencies in housing, accessibility, and social cohesion. Using the WHO Age-Friendly Cities framework and case studies, including the Knarrenhof concept, the study explores design solutions such as fostering interactions in various zones of a building, shared spaces and routes, and accessible infrastructure. The three pillars – building, community, and care – form the foundation, with a stronger community reducing the need for formal care for elderly. The findings serve as a design guide for creating sustainable, supportive environments that promote independence and social cohesion.

When children are admitted to the hospital because of a severe illness, as whole new chapter in life starts for the children and the parents. Several researches emphasize the stress children and parents experience during hospitalisation. However, life becomes even more distressing when the child is allowed to go home and it becomes the parents’ responsibility to take care of the child. Nowadays when a child is too well to stay in the hospital, however, too sick to stay at home, the child is sent home anyway. The reason behind this is that a stay in the hospital is expensive.

Research has been conducted on how the healthcare system is shaped now and how architecture can contribute to an optimisation of healthcare facilities for children who require long-term care. By using multiple research methods like interviewing, fieldwork, documentaries, case studies and a literature study, the aim was to answer the main question.

Healing environment was introduced as a technique to be able to conduct the research. Since research on healing environment is most of the time only for adults, a new framework has been compiled especially for children.

It can be concluded that by implementing the design guidelines, that are compiled, as requirements for an healthy healthcare facility, that architecture can contribute to an optimisation of healthcare facilities.

This thesis states the current urgent problem in the global context where the prevalence of depression among university students is increasing. Most of the university students who suffer from depression due to peer competition, high demands on themselves, inability to handle relationships well and other problems leading them to feel helpless, upset and anxious. In the Netherlands, even with a complete psychiatric care system, depressed patients still have to face a lot of problems in terms of treatment, such as long waiting lists and expensive treatment. Therefore, an increasing number of people are motivated to concentrate on depression prevention.

About depression prevention, there have been some research and measures at the social level and psychological level. At the architectural level, most of the mental-related research has focused on medical buildings, with limited research on daily living environments. It is relevant
to combine depression prevention measures and architectural design measures for university students to research and design their daily living environment to positively support depression prevention. The targeted group is healthy university students. For these university students living in student residences on campus, campus and residence are the places that they spend much time. In order to investigate how the design of campus and residential spaces can support depression prevention, the design guidelines are generated through four research methods: literature research, observation, interview and case studies. The design guidelines are categorised into three levels of importance and two scales. Based on the design guidelines, the design (including campus scale and residence scale) will be done.

Overall, through the research process, the design guidelines relate to the three aspects of physical, social and mental health. This research argues that promoting these three aspects of healthy lifestyles among university students can contribute to depression prevention for them.

The Dutch elderly housing system has a gap for vulnerable elderly. The Dutch policy on elderly care is to continue living at home for as long as possible and moving into a nursing home with 24h care when living at home is not possible anymore. However, a large group of elderly is not served by this policy. This group is the group of so called vulnerable elderly. Living at home might be tough for them because of the incidental care they need, but moving into a nursing home is unnecessary. For these groups of elderly a new housing form is needed. In order to create this new housing types, transformation of existing vacant buildings could be a solution. Empty plots to build on are become increasingly more scarce and with the climate crisis the existing building in The Netherlands should be renovated in order to improve their sustainability. In this thesis research was done on what design guidelines would be needed in order to create a new social housing complex out of an existing building. The results show that a form of co-housing with mixed living for elderly could be a solution. In these co-housing complexes the emphasis lies on creating social connections through shared spaces. These social connections improve both mental and physical health, whilst at the same time relieving pressure on the Dutch care system by increasing informal care between resident. The results of this investigation are a number of design guidelines which need to be implemented in an existing utility building for transforming this building into a succesfull co-housing for elderly. These desgin guidelines are combined into a building concept showing the basic design ideas for creating a senior co-housing complex with mixed living.

With a growing elderly population in the Netherlands, this also challenges our existing housing options and the care system. In particular, the risk of dementia significantly increases with age. About 68 percent of people with dementia in the Netherlands live at home and get care from their family or close social network; often their partner. When an informal caregiver can no longer manage the care of someone with dementia, it becomes a significant reason for considering admission to a nursing home or an assisted living facility. There are currently few options for both partners to continue living together when they wish to do so.
To explore the collective requirements of both partners, the following research question was answered; ‘What living environmental features can support elderly couples who wish to live together while one of them experiences dementia, to maintain their shared living arrangements?’.
Literature research, fieldwork, interviews and case studies show several design guidelines that can be considered when designing for people with dementia, as well as their unaffected partner. For the partner with dementia, ‘wayfinding’, ‘accessibility’, and creating a ‘home-like small-scale environment’ were found to be important to consider while designing for them. For the ‘healthy’ partner, it was found that it is important for them to be able to ‘live a normal life’, to ‘take some pressure off’ of them, to ‘ensure the safety of their partner with dementia’, and to ‘be able to do things together with their partner and separately’.
As the elderly population continues to expand, it is crucial to explore innovative living alternatives to ease the strain on informal caregivers and the healthcare system.

This research is about designing for people with dementia. The Dutch population is aging and
double aging, causing an increase of people with dementia. This also causes a growing imbalance between people who need care and people who can provide care. Adding to this are the current living arrangements for people with dementia not sufficient. Therefore the central question in this research is: what living environment features can contribute to the quality of life of people with dementia, and provide them with the care they need.

The aim of this research is to define design guidelines that provide people with dementia with sufficient housing and a qualitative living environment through all stages of dementia. And to see if this can contribute to the efficiency in care, so that people with dementia can still get the care they need.

This research obtains information through literature study, case studies and a fieldwork in an elderly care home to provide an answer to the main question. This research defines four main topics that contribute to the quality of life of people with dementia: distinctiveness, familiarity, independence and biophilic. This research investigates these topics on different scales. First the scale of the dwelling, than the building, and at last the near surroundings. Finally, this research has a chapter from the perspective of the caregiver on the living environment for people with dementia. This results in design guidelines.

It can be concluded from this research that by bringing together the fields of dementia,
dementia care and architecture, a qualitative living environment can be created for people
with dementia with a high quality of life. A higher quality of life will contribute to the efficiency of care and a decrease in the demand for care.

The ageing population in the Netherlands presents challenges in elderly care, including rising health issues, a shortage of healthcare staff, and escalating costs. This study explores the association between healthy ageing and Blue Zones, regions in the world where long and healthy lives are common. Genetic factors contribute to 25% of lifespan variations, while non-genetic elements, such as unhealthy habits and social conditions, play significant roles. Environmental factors also impact the ageing process. The research aims to create a healthy urban living environment in the Netherlands, drawing inspiration from the lifestyle lessons in the Blue Zones. The main research question delves into how Dutch living environments can promote healthy ageing and assist the elderly in maintaining vitality. Sub-questions explore the key elements contributing to healthy ageing, the implementation of the Blue Zone concept in the living environment on the scale of the neighbourhood, street and building, and how the concept can be applied within Dutch urban living environments. Building on the principles of Blue Zones, the study focuses on three key spatial domains within the living environment: Physical Activity, Green/Blue Spaces, and Social Connection. The research goal is to provide practical design guidelines for architects and urban planners, aiming to reduce healthcare costs and chronic diseases in the ageing population. Implementing these guidelines in Dutch urban environments enhance the overall health of the elderly, maintaining their vitality and independence for as long as possible. To achieve the best health benefits, a societal shift towards proactive engagement and inhabitants’ responsibility for their living environment and health is needed to create a healthy living environment.

There exists today, a major discrepancy in care provision for youth suffering from, or beginning to experience, behavioural and medical health issues (BMH) at an age that is too young to self-advocate, too old for traditional social service infrastructure, but just right to intervene upon if properly recognized. What if human connection and the deliberate use of public space could provide additional built-in community-based support for our neurodivergent peers – what would this look like for a small urban city?

This study aims to investigate practical and minimally-invasive urban solutions for tackling the high care demand imposed on the psychiatric medical care community today. With a focus on decentralization, the burden of care might be alleviated and dispersed from a strictly clinical to a community setting, thus improving access for all.

Under the influence of negative experiences, childbirth can be harmful and have negative effects on women’s (mental) health. One of the factors affecting women’s experience of childbirth is the physical environment. Unfortunately, contemporary maternal healthcare facilities are often designed from a highly-regulated and medicalized maternity care perspective, instead of a woman-centered design approach. In order to comply with women’s (environmental) needs and to create a more women-centered design approach, design guidelines have been formed based on literature study, fieldwork including semistructured interviews, and case studies. Using these guidelines, the architectural environment could contribute to a positive experience, improving health & well-being, for women during the stage of LDRP* in a maternal healthcare facility.

*an acronym for labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum

A person with a physical disability often has no choice but to rely on their families. Between the physically disabled and the family caregiver, there is a co-dependence which affects both sides and how they live their individual daily lives. It is reported that this co-dependence creates feelings of burden and stress, social isolation and emotional loneliness for both the people with disabilities and their family caregivers.

There has been a good number of policies issued in the Netherlands with the aim of allowing as many people as possible to participate fully in society. The main aim is to help people with disabilities to live as they wish through changes in the social domain that will lead to noticeably fewer barriers. However, when it comes to participation and “barriers”, the first thing that comes to mind is the physical barriers that make access challenging. But accessibility and participation are also about the experiences people have once they access a particular environment. In other words, accessible and inclusive spaces are spaces that not only people can get into, but that they also feel welcome to be into. In the end, when we talk about an accessible society, we are talking about more than just the physical or practical barriers - the social barriers that are part of the social structure and the way the society and living environments are organized.

In this research, the question "What kind of architectural and urban living environments can be integrated in the daily lives of the physically disabled adults (PDA) and their family caregivers (FC) to reduce their social isolation?" is explored through interviews, observations and literature study. The findings are then organized into a set of design guidelines and design applications in an effort to create an inclusive living environment.

The main design concept as a result of the research suggests the design of an “Incluive Living Environment“ which offers public functions, social amenities and housing which are all available for everyone - regardless of their age, ability or family configuration - where a healthy environment of interaction and understanding can be created. A living environment where a strong community and social network can be formed where disabilities and care is not a burden or something to be ashamed of, but it is accepted, understood, and shared. A living environment where the care is shared by forming healthy communities where social bonds are formed between individuals that live in proximity to one another, light care can easily become a “shared value“. This helps to release the pressure, burden and shame that is primarily experienced by physically disabled adults and their families, and reduce their social isolation.

About 90% of our lives are spend indoors. For many of the buildings we stay in, standards and design guidelines have been set up, but educational buildings are often left out. Around 2009 the project the “Frisse Scholen” was set up in the Netherlands. This project aims to create better indoor climates at primary, secondary, and vocational schools. Universities have not been considered, while university students also need healthy environments. These students also suffer from stress. This can severely impact the academic performance. Healing elements in the design of university buildings could decrease the stress. This research aims to create design guidelines for a new general university education building that improves the physical and mental well-being of students. The research will be anthropological for the most part with interviews, questionnaires, and observation. This will be supported by literature research.

By 2040 a quarter of the Dutch population consists of elderly people. This increasing number of elderly will lead to a higher demand for healthcare, but the healthcare sector is already overburdened by the high demand and shortages of professionals. Therefore, elderly have to live independently for as long as possible and enough suitable ageing-friendly housing is necessary. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Many seniors find themselves residing in homes designed for families. Especially when living alone, these houses are often excessively spacious and unsuitable for ageing in place. However, alternatives to move to are not available or do not suit their needs, because they are for example not in their current neighbourhood or not affordable. At the moment the housing construction is stalled and housing plans can take many years, so it is necessary to focus on opportunities. This study focuses on addressing this issue by exploring the potential of transforming postwar neighbourhoods into ageing-friendly living environments, because research shows that solutions can be found in the existing urban context of the postwar neighbourhood.

The research investigates the architectural and spatial elements necessary for creating ageing-friendly environments through a comprehensive analysis of existing literature, case study and by going on a fieldwork week to an real-life example of a residential facility where elderly people live together as a community. The results about housing preferences and needs of elderly people are translated into design guidelines for an elderly-friendly living environment divided into three scales: neighbourhood, building block and dwelling. The characteristics of and problems in the Dutch postwar neighbourhood and the possibilities for transformation are described through analysed literature. The research identifies strategies for renovating and repurposing existing housing stock, as well as incorporating new construction to meet the housing needs of the elderly population.

Overall, this research contributes to the construction of ageing-friendly living environments, improves housing conditions for the elderly in the Netherlands and offers insights into the transformation of the postwar neighbourhoods. To create an ageing-friendly living environment in postwar neighbourhoods, the most important topics need to be addressed on the basis of implementing the guidelines and therefore transformation in the postwar neighbourhood is necessary. Many homes, especially those designed for families, lack wheelchair accessibility and elevators. The green surroundings of postwar neighbourhoods can encourage elderly to spend time outdoors. So, making better use of this rich green and water structure is recommended. For the transformation of postwar neighbourhoods four categories of interventions are possible: splitting and expanding of existing dwellings, surgical interventions to make use of unused space, restructuring by demolishing and building new and building at the edges of the neighbourhoods where infrastructure becomes available due to the expecting reducing use of cars. Family houses and apartments can be split into multiple houses and residential buildings could be renovated, to expand, improve the look, improve sustainability, upgrade the plinth by adding other functions and make houses ageing-friendly by adding for example elevator access and renovating bathrooms. Hereby, the guidelines for an ageing-friendly living environment have to be implemented. Considering the shrinking households and the prevalence of elderly individuals living alone, transformation strategies should focus on densification with diversity in housing types, diverse residents, mixed-use and the creation of a sense of community.

Mental health patients often get taken out of their social network when going into intensive care or temporary Supportive Housing (SH). However, social network has a positive effect on the recovery and quality of life of patients with mental health illness (Rössler, 2006). Although mental health care policies are changing in the Netherlands, supportive housing remains needed - albeit in smaller amounts - for a specific group. This group often is not integrated into society. Using the neighbourhood as the community inhabitants integrate into (Perry, 1929) and a systemic review by Jovanović et al. (2019) on how architecture can positively influence social interaction in psychiatric hospitals, this research tries to find design guidelines for SH which increases social integration into neighbourhoods.
Through a literature study and case studies, several themes are established. These are tested with field research at a Dutch SH facility, where six staff members are formally interviewed and around eight inhabitants were informally interviewed. Additionally, observations were done on social interactions. Finally, experts are interviewed on the topic.
The results show that the inhabitants of SH are divers, but can be classified in two groups: 1. Heavy cases who need intensive, long-term care and 2. Short-term cases who do not have housing (Planije et al., 2017). Through the different scales, four main themes which can enhance social interaction could be established: Interaction with the neighbourhood, activating inhabitants, fitting different needs of inhabitants and finally, contact with nature.
In conclusion, architecture & the built environment and location conditions can have influence the social network of inhabitants of SH by providing opportunities for social interaction, while also enabling inhabitants to retreat.

This thesis explores architectural interventions to de-stigmatize psychiatric hospitals in Albania. Through research grounded in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and fieldwork in local psychiatric facilities, the study identifies key design principles such as greenery, privacy, autonomy, and community integration. The design proposal, Fshati i Mendjes (Village of the Mind), is a psychiatric care hospital in Tirana that challenges traditional institutional models, drawing inspiration from the traditional villages. It features therapeutic courtyards, natural light, and adaptive spaces tailored to patient needs. The project also aims to engage the community through educational programs and environmental sustainability, promoting mental health awareness and fostering a culture of acceptance.